The Divorce Process

TO FINALIZE YOUR DIVORCE BY USING THE MOST EFFICIENT AND COST-EFFECTIVE METHOD AVAILABLE.

How Is This Done?

By Using our Attorney-Assisted Method, you are given a consultation with the attorney and advised as to what is reasonable in your case and what are your options.  If there are no issues (such as spousal support, division of property, child support, custody & visitation) Legal Action Workshop prepares and submits all paperwork to finalize the divorce.  If there are issues and agreements can be made with your spouse, then a Marital Settlement Agreement is prepared which avoids a court appearance.  Total savings to you of approximately $2,500!

STEPS NEEDED TO COMPLETE A LEGAL ACTION WORKSHOP DIVORCE:

1.    FILE THE DIVORCE: 

The first step is to have a consultation with the attorney regarding your divorce.  With sound legal advice, a Petition for Dissolution can be filed.  This petition alerts your spouse that you are filing for divorce and that there are issues that need to be addressed (if there are issues).  You may wish to ask for spousal support, child support, custody and/or visitation as well as division of property if needed and as directed by the attorney. Once filed with the court, a case number will be assigned to your divorce.  The filing fee is currently $355.  This fee varies in some parts of California.  The filing fee may be waived by the court based on income.
 

2.    SERVE YOUR SPOUSE: 

Once a case number has been assigned to your divorce, your spouse can then be served with divorce papers.  A proof of service must be signed and submitted to the court.  Your spouse can be served in two ways—by mail or by personal service.  Your spouse now has 30 days to respond.                                                                                                  

Please note that you can still get a divorce, even if you do NOT know where your spouse resides.  This is called a 'publication divorce' and can be completed by doing a search and a publication.  The attorney will advise at to how this can be done.                                                                                                              

If you do know where your spouse resides, it is a good idea to maintain communication with him/her and try to work out an agreement as to the issues of your divorce.  You have already had a consultation with the attorney and he/she has advised you as to what is reasonable in your circumstance.                         

If it is determined that there are NO issues in your divorce (meaning that you do not have children, or property or spousal support issues) then your spouse does not need to respond.  Default paperwork ('default' meaning that there is no response filed) will be submitted to the courts.  Usually, the divorce will be finalized without a court appearance.                                                                   

However, if you do have issues that need to be resolved, you can now go to your spouse and try to get agreements on these issues.  If your spouse agrees then he/she does not need to respond and can save the filing fee for the response which is currently $355.  Sometimes, the spouse does not respond for other reasons.  He/ she may choose to ignore the proceedings or may not know what to do.  In any case, if a response is not filed within the 30 day period, and there are issues that need to be resolved, then default papers will be submitted to the court and the petitioner (the spouse that files for divorce) will need to appear for a default hearing.  The courts usually favor the petitioner in this circumstance. 

If your spouse does not wish to agree on issues, then he/she will usually respond and you are now in a contested divorce. Due to the fact that a divorce takes a minimum of 6 months and 1 day from the date of service, you may require temporary orders  for spousal support or child support, custody and/or visitation.  In this case, we would prepare an Order to Show Cause which would address these issues.  You may also require restraining orders and we can help with this as well.
 

3.    MARITAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT: 

Once your spouse is served, you have the opportunity to try to get agreements on issues.  If you are successful, you can request that a Marital Settlement Agreement be prepared which will outline how all the issues of the divorce will be handled.  This is NOT needed if the attorney has determined that you do not have issues.  Once the Marital Settlement Agreement is signed and notarized by both parties, this document along with all the divorce papers (called default documents) will be submitted to the court.  A court appearance is NOT needed and you will receive notification as to when your divorce is finalized—in the form of a judgment that is executed by the judge.  By using this method, you will save time, stress and thousands of dollars in attorney fees and your divorce will be finalized in the way that is detailed in the Marital Settlement Agreement.

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NOTE: If your spouse does not wish to agree and responds, you are in a contested divorce.  However, some couples may still come to agreements at this stage and then are willing to sign a Marital Settlement Agreement.  If this does happen, your divorce can still be completed as above.  If this does not happen, then Legal Action Workshop can secure a court date for you and then provide an attorney for court or a trial brief all for a low flat fee.  Your divorce can still be completed for a reasonable fee even if you are in a contested divorce.